Terp Men Earn Best ACC Finish Since 1990

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Greg Kelsey and Alex Lundy each finished among the top 25 to lead the University of Maryland to a tie for sixth place in the men's team standings Saturday, marking the Terrapins' best team finish in 18 years at the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Cross Country Championships hosted by the University of North Carolina.

On the women's side, junior Erin Matyus posted her best individual finish at the ACCs, placing 35th overall and helping the Terrapins to ninth in the team standings.

Kelsey covered the men's 8-kilometer course in 25 minutes, 8.7 seconds to place 19th, with Lundy just six seconds behind in 23rd. Those two have consistently been Maryland's top runners throughout the season thus far.

Maryland tied for sixth in the men's team standings with Boston College, each with 199 points. The last time Maryland placed sixth in the ACC meet was 1990, when it was sixth in an eight-team field. The last time the Terrapins placed ahead of five teams in the ACC meet was 1986, when they were second out of eight.

Virginia, which came into the meet as the men's favorite and the 14th-ranked team in the country, got the team victory with 40 points. NC State was second with 56, with Virginia Tech in third with 75.

The Cavaliers placed four runners in the top nine finishers to earn the team victory, led by Ryan Foster, who ran 24:27.7. Tim Ritchie of Boston College was second in 24:30.0, with Devin Cornwall of Virginia Tech in third at 24:30.8.

Matyus covered the 6-kilometer women's course in 21:47.9 and in 35th. A year ago, she was the second Maryland finisher behind graduated senior Meghan Braffet, placing 41st.

Maryland finished with 236 points, exactly matching its point total and team finish from a year ago.

Florida State, ranked third in the country coming into the meet, scored 27 points to easily take the women's team title. The Seminoles placed all five of their scorers among the top nine to post a surprisingly low team score in a large conference meet.

Unranked Boston College finished second in the women's team standings with 106 points, with No. 25 Wake Forest in third with 112.

Defending champion Susan Kuijken of Florida State was the women's individual champion, finishing in 20:11.0. She out-leaned Tas Fanning of Virginia Tech to win by six-tenths of a second. Brie Felnagle of North Carolina was third in 20:23.0.

Maryland competes next on Nov. 15 in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals, to be hosted by Princeton.